Pawns of Comedy

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As I walked out of my own personal hell, which is better known as the Blue Room Theatre’s staircase, I was struck by the realization that I just got an epiphany from Rorshach of Watchmen; in that theatre I had just exited, I saw the true face of Chico and it was that of a heckler.

The bay area comedy troupe the Pawns of Comedy swung by the Blue Room to bring some much-needed humor to the hapless crowd. To start the night off with a nervous twitch, two local comics got their 5 minutes of awkward glory. I’d mention their names but for this review, they’d rather be nameless. Their sets were filled with silence and chuckles and even a “Boo!” or two.

After the local boys, the Pawns came out, starting with the MC of the night, Joey Divine. He looked like “Harry Potter with a drinking problem,” and had enough obscure references to tame any Family Guy fan. Speaking of taming, it was about this time that the kindly old lady in the front row began her heckling, which would last throughout the entire night; the interesting part was to see how all the different comedians handled her.

Next up was the “surreal” comic Ben Feldman who brought his good material along with his New York attitude. The epitome of marriage, whiteness and starting his own fight club were broached but the highlight was hearing an amazing Andy Rooney impression. “Have you ever been walking down the street and noticed your laces were untied? What is that about” Feldman asks in a high-pitch 60 Minutes-type whine. Alas the heckling starts again; first from the old lady but soon others were jumping in as well. Feldman handled his own throwing some much-needed low blows.

The next, and best, comedian was the Napoleon Dynamite of the Pawns, Brandon Lynch. “I am the king of awkward situations.” Lynch proclaimed, as his comedy was based not so much on jokes, but on reactionary interactions with the buzzed crowd. Nearly getting pummeled by a man sitting in the aisle, Lynch took the loud, heckling crowd and turned the joke on them.

Last up was the infamous DNA. Billed as the headliner, DNA immensely froze up at the sight of the unruly crowd. “This is my nightmare.” He nervously stated. The night ended with everyone knowing that the city’s true face prevailed.